Thinking About Purchasing An External Filter [Couple Of Questions]

[trout_pout]

Hey, everyone.

I've had numerous tanks in the past. Which were all made by Juwel. So, I had internal filters for all of them.

Recently, I purchased a Red Belly Piranha for my 30 gallon and I have noticed how quickly the water is getting murky.

I'm thinking about purchasing an external filter to help clean up the water. Obviously, I will still need to do water changes.

But, I'm guessing that by having an external filter. It would improve the quality of the water.

So, a few questions;

1) If my tank is 30 gallons and is housing a RBP. Could I go ahead and purchase an external filter intended for a much larger tank. Say, one that would pump around 1000ltrs p/hour?

2) Is the UV gimmick worth getting - if it's included with the filter?

3) If I were to get a really powerful external filter. Would I still need to stock my internal filter - or could I just wait a few months until the bacteria has been passed on to the external filter media?

4) Are there any filters that you'd recommend for my situation?


Thanks in advance!

 

[ShinySideUp]

Hey, everyone.

I've had numerous tanks in the past. Which were all made by Juwel. So, I had internal filters for all of them.

Recently, I purchased a Red Belly Piranha for my 30 gallon and I have noticed how quickly the water is getting murky.

I'm thinking about purchasing an external filter to help clean up the water. Obviously, I will still need to do water changes.

But, I'm guessing that by having an external filter. It would improve the quality of the water.

So, a few questions;

1) If my tank is 30 gallons and is housing a RBP. Could I go ahead and purchase an external filter intended for a much larger tank. Say, one that would pump around 1000ltrs p/hour?

2) Is the UV gimmick worth getting - if it's included with the filter?

3) If I were to get a really powerful external filter. Would I still need to stock my internal filter - or could I just wait a few months until the bacteria has been passed on to the external filter media?

4) Are there any filters that you'd recommend for my situation?


Thanks in advance!

 
1) I know nothing about this fish but if it likes quieter waters you could always use a spray bar.
 
2) I know nothing about the effetiveness of UV filters.
 
3) If you get an external filter you just need to move all your filter material over to it from the internal and take the internal out. As far as the bacteria are concerned, nothing has changed.
 
4) I had a Fluval 305 (now 306), which is about 1000lph, and had no problems with it. I still have it in case of my FX5 failing.

 

[McCool]

Hey, everyone.

I've had numerous tanks in the past. Which were all made by Juwel. So, I had internal filters for all of them.

Recently, I purchased a Red Belly Piranha for my 30 gallon and I have noticed how quickly the water is getting murky.

I'm thinking about purchasing an external filter to help clean up the water. Obviously, I will still need to do water changes.

But, I'm guessing that by having an external filter. It would improve the quality of the water.

So, a few questions;

1) If my tank is 30 gallons and is housing a RBP. Could I go ahead and purchase an external filter intended for a much larger tank. Say, one that would pump around 1000ltrs p/hour?

2) Is the UV gimmick worth getting - if it's included with the filter?

3) If I were to get a really powerful external filter. Would I still need to stock my internal filter - or could I just wait a few months until the bacteria has been passed on to the external filter media?

4) Are there any filters that you'd recommend for my situation?


Thanks in advance!

 
1) I know nothing about this fish but if it likes quieter waters you could always use a spray bar.
 
2) I know nothing about the effetivenuess of UV filters.
 
3) If you get an external filter you just need to move all your filter material over to it from the internal and take the internal out. As far as the bacteria are concerned, nothing has changed.
 
4) I had a Fluval 305 (now 306), which is about 1000lph, and had no problems with it. I still have it in case of my FX5 failing.

Hmmm. I see no reason why he would need to remove the internal? If anything I would just put the external on with new media and keep the internal running. I don't see a problem with running them both if you want to. If you don't want to keep the internal going then you'd need to move over the media, but as long as both are going it shouldn't be a problem. The external will build up bacteria while the internal takes care of the tank, and then you could either turn the internal off or just leave it going. I've had multiple filters on one tank before and didn't have a problem.

+1 on the Fluval filters though. I love mine. Virtually silent and I've never had a problem with it!

 

[BerryAttack]

those are schooling fish and need a group of 6+ and will get huge and also to keep them you'll need a 100g+ tank with the schooling size etc etc for proper health and growth, and schooling.
the feeding is probably what is causing the mess. so only feed 3 times a week, med size fish (depending on how big it is) then when he is done vacuum everything out. also with how the fish is.. not to keen on sticking your hand in there sooo watch out you want the fish to work for the food as it hunts in the wild, not just make it fat and be like here you go more.. not saying it to do tricks but they don't get food every day in the wild so keeping as natural as you can is the best. (also less maintenance and obesity issues = health issues later on)
 
i have fluval filters and never had an issue with them, you can see the water line on some brands so you know if its going to leek which is great to make sure that the lid is on correct. cleaning is the same as any other.

 

[McCool]

those are schooling fish and need a group of 6+ and will get huge and also to keep them you'll need a 100g+ tank with the schooling size etc etc for proper health and growth, and schooling.
the feeding is probably what is causing the mess. so only feed 3 times a week, med size fish (depending on how big it is) then when he is done vacuum everything out. also with how the fish is.. not to keen on sticking your hand in there sooo watch out you want the fish to work for the food as it hunts in the wild, not just make it fat and be like here you go more.. not saying it to do tricks but they don't get food every day in the wild so keeping as natural as you can is the best. (also less maintenance and obesity issues = health issues later on)
 
i have fluval filters and never had an issue with them, you can see the water line on some brands so you know if its going to leek which is great to make sure that the lid is on correct. cleaning is the same as any other.

+1 on all of this. How big is he, anyways? You either need to do a serious upgrade soon or rehome, to be blunt...

 

[star4]

I would recommend the All Pond Solutions filter (if you are in the UK) they do a uv model, they are excellent filters for messy fish because of the in built surface skimmer, which no other filter I know of has. 

 

[bricko]

star4 just a quick question on the surface skimmer (sorry for hijacking post)  How do you get on when performing water changes?  Do you turn the filter off to avoid sucking excess air into the filter?  I run a seperate skimmer at present on my Eheim pro3e which adjusts to the water level.  I find this a much better solution as I can continue running the filter while doing water changes.  Also the pro3e has an auto air expelling feautre which is ideal for using with a skimmer.
 
Only been using the surface skimmer a few months and was curious to know how other peopl eget on with them, I had a layer of oily skin on my surface due to feeding frozen blocks etc but now its crystal clear, think it has also helped with getting more light to my plant etc.

 

[star4]

I turn my filters off during a wc, but to stop any excess air getting into the filter I take off the skimmer top and turn the L bar round.